Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography
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Andrew Nichols
Abstract
This paper examines the Indica of Ctesias and the role that this work has played in the development of paradoxography. From around the start of the 5th century, the Greeks began to notice and document marvels and curiosities within their own contemporary world. The writings of Herodotus and Hecataeus regularly contained descriptions of oddities in the natural world, but these were digressions that stood apart from the overall aim of the work. At the end of the 5th century, Ctesias fashioned an innovative composition that was unique for its focus on marvels. His style of description and the themes which he addressed would come to greatly influence later generations of paradoxographers and those interested in mirabilia. Expanding on the work of its predecessors, Ctesias’ Indica would serve as a bridge between the geographers, historians, and ethnographers of the 5th century and the collectors of wonders beginning in the 3rd century.
Abstract
This paper examines the Indica of Ctesias and the role that this work has played in the development of paradoxography. From around the start of the 5th century, the Greeks began to notice and document marvels and curiosities within their own contemporary world. The writings of Herodotus and Hecataeus regularly contained descriptions of oddities in the natural world, but these were digressions that stood apart from the overall aim of the work. At the end of the 5th century, Ctesias fashioned an innovative composition that was unique for its focus on marvels. His style of description and the themes which he addressed would come to greatly influence later generations of paradoxographers and those interested in mirabilia. Expanding on the work of its predecessors, Ctesias’ Indica would serve as a bridge between the geographers, historians, and ethnographers of the 5th century and the collectors of wonders beginning in the 3rd century.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
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I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
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II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
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III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
